Elimination Chamber (2018)
Elimination Chamber 2018 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for the Raw brand. It took place on February 25, 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the eighth event under the Elimination Chamber chronology and the final Raw-exclusive pay-per-view under the second brand split as following WrestleMania 34, all WWE pay-per-views will be dual-branded, featuring wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. The 2018 event was also be the first to feature a seven-man Elimination Chamber match, and the first event to include a women's Elimination Chamber match. The event was also the first Raw-exclusive pay-per-view since the 2016 reintroduction of the brand extension not scheduled to feature any Cruiserweight Division matches. Storylines Elimination Chamber featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The card will be highlighted by two Elimination Chamber matches, one of which will be the first to involve women. At the Royal Rumble, Shinsuke Nakamura won the men's Royal Rumble match and decided to stay on SmackDown to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. This left Brock Lesnar, who at the same event retained his Universal Championship in a triple threat match against Braun Strowman and Kane, without an opponent at WrestleMania. In response, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled an Elimination Chamber match to determine the number one contender for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. Six qualification matches were scheduled. The first three were contested on the January 29 episode of Raw. In the first, Strowman defeated Kane in a last man standing match to qualify. Kane was taken to a local medical center after the match. Elias then qualified by defeating "Woken" Matt Hardy after a distraction from Bray Wyatt, and John Cena defeated Finn Bálor to qualify. Roman Reigns and Intercontinental Champion The Miz qualified the next week by defeating Wyatt and Apollo Crews, respectively. That same episode, Elias earned the right to be the sixth entrant into the chamber by defeating Cena and Strowman in a triple threat match. The final qualification match was scheduled for the following week in a second chance fatal four-way match between Bálor, Wyatt, Hardy, and Crews. On the January 29 episode of Raw, Commissioner Stephanie McMahon convinced Asuka, who won the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match the previous night at the Royal Rumble, to wait until after Elimination Chamber to pick which championship to challenge at WrestleMania 34, as Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss was scheduled to defend her title in the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match. The following week, General Manager Kurt Angle announced that Bayley, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Sasha Banks, and Sonya Deville would be the other competitors in the Elimination Chamber match. He also announced that Nia Jax would face Asuka at Elimination Chamber and if she were to defeat Asuka, she would be inserted into the Raw Women's Championship match at WrestleMania. Bliss came out and questioned Angle as to why she had to defend her title in the Elimination Chamber match while Universal Champion Brock Lesnar did not and accused Angle of sexism. Angle retorted that Lesnar retained his title at the Royal Rumble, but Bliss had not defended her title since TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in October. On the January 15 episode of Raw, Asuka defeated Nia Jax after the referee stopped the match, deeming that Jax could no longer continue. Both then competed in the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, which Asuka won for the right to challenge for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34. On the February 5 episode of Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle announced that Nia Jax would face Asuka at Elimination Chamber and if she were to defeat Asuka, who would still receive her championship opportunity at WrestleMania, Jax would also be inserted into the Raw Women's Championship match at the event. The following week, after a match between Bayley and Sasha Banks, Jax attacked both women to send a message to Asuka. Whilst walking up the ramp, she proclaimed that she would be the one to end Asuka's undefeated streak. Following Asuka's Royal Rumble match victory at the Royal Rumble, former UFC star Ronda Rousey made an appearance and interrupted Asuka, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. Rousey's appearance confirmed that she had signed full-time with WWE. On the February 12 episode of Raw, it was announced that Rousey would sign her Raw contract at Elimination Chamber. After losing a feud to Elias, Matt Hardy was defeated by Bray Wyatt on the November 27, 2017 episode of Raw. Following the match, Hardy had a mental breakdown where he sat in the corner and repeatedly shouted "delete" with an arm gesture. This would be the genesis of Hardy's transition into "Woken" Matt Hardy (WWE's version of his "Broken" gimmick from Impact Wrestling) where he debuted as the character the following week, interrupting a promo by Wyatt. Over the following month, the two went back and forth in promos as well as a couple of in-ring confrontations, and they finally had a match on Raw 25 on January 22, 2018 in which Wyatt again defeated Hardy. The two then faced off in the Royal Rumble match, where they eliminated each other. On the February 19 episode of Raw, another match between the two was scheduled for Elimination Chamber. Prior to the Royal Rumble, Titus Worldwide (Apollo and Titus O'Neil) gained two consecutive wins over number one contenders Cesaro and Sheamus, who at the Royal Rumble, won the Raw Tag Team Championship from Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins to become record four-time champions as a team, and a record fifth reign for Cesaro individually. Titus Worldwide received a title opportunity on Raw immediately following the Royal Rumble, but were unsuccessful, and Cesaro and Sheamus also retained their titles in Jordan and Rollins' contractual rematch, though Roman Reigns subbed for an injured Jordan. On the February 19 episode of Raw, Titus Worldwide had a non-title match against Cesaro and Sheamus and defeated the champions. Afterwards, they challenged Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship at Elimination Chamber for being 3-1 over the champions, which was made official on February 23. On February 23, Bálor Club members Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were scheduled to face The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) on the Elimination Chamber pre-show. Aftermath Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman were advertised to be on the following night's episode of Raw to confront the winner of the Elimination Chamber match, but no-showed. Roman Reigns cut a promo on his WrestleMania 34 opponent, calling Lesnar entitled and that he hides behind his contract, which allows him to show up whenever he wants. He said Lesnar does not respect the WWE and that he has no respect for Lesnar, but he would defeat Lesnar at WrestleMania and become the Universal Champion. Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, along with Mickie James, gloated about retaining her title in the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match. She said at WrestleMania 34, if Asuka chose her, she would end her undefeated streak. Asuka then came out, but Nia Jax was close behind and the three women teamed up on Asuka until Bayley and Sasha Banks came out for the save, with James turning heel in the process. Asuka, Banks, and Bayley then teamed up to face Bliss, James, and Jax in a six-woman tag team match. During the match, Banks went to tag Bayley, but Bayley refused the tag. Asuka won the match for her team by making James submit. Asuka and Jax had a rematch the following week where Asuka was again victorious. Asuka then decided that she would challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania. Jax would then be granted a Raw Women's Championship match at WrestleMania after Bliss revealed her true feelings about Jax. Ronda Rousey, General Manager Kurt Angle, Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, and Chief Operating Officer Triple H had a segment to apologize for what happened at Elimination Chamber. During the segment, Angle, in an attempt to keep his job, said that he lied about Triple H and Stephanie's supposed plan against Rousey. Stephanie thanked Angle for clearing the air, however, Rousey said everything was addressed except for Stephanie slapping her in the face. Rousey wanted an apology from Stephanie, who complied and said she only did it because Rousey put her husband through a table. As Stephanie and Triple H were leaving, Triple H punched Angle. The following week, Stephanie confirmed that Rousey could choose any member of the active Raw roster as her WrestleMania 34 opponent except the champion; Rousey chose Stephanie. Angle reminded Stephanie that although she was an executive, she had a contract to compete as a wrestler. Angle also reminded Triple H of his warning from Survivor Series where if Triple H were to attack him again, he would retaliate. He also reminded Triple H that he too had a contract to compete as a wrestler and then scheduled Triple H and Stephanie to face himself and Rousey at WrestleMania. Intercontinental Champion The Miz said that he should be in the main event of WrestleMania 34 and said that he had made the Intercontinental Championship more important than the Universal Championship. He was told by General Manager Kurt Angle that his opponent that night might determine his WrestleMania opponent. Seth Rollins then came out and defeated The Miz in a match. Finn Bálor then came out to also have a match with Miz, which confused Rollins. The Miztourage attacked Bálor right after the match started, causing a disqualification, and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson came to Bálor's aid. Angle appeared on the TitanTron and banned The Miztourage and Gallows and Anderson from ringside and restarted the match, stating that there would be a winner or else Miz would not have a match at WrestleMania. Bálor then defeated Miz..26 The following week, Angle scheduled Miz to defend the title in a triple threat match against Rollins and Bálor at WrestleMania. Bray Wyatt was scheduled to have a match with Heath Slater, but the match did not happen as he attacked Slater and his tag team partner Rhyno before the match could begin. Afterwards, he said his war with "Woken" Matt Hardy was not over. The following week, after defeating Rhyno, Wyatt called out Hardy, who appeared on the TitanTron and challenged Wyatt to an "Ultimate Deletion" match at the Hardy Compound (WWE's version of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's "Final Deletion" match, a Falls-Count-Anywhere Hardcore match fought at Hardy's house). Wyatt accepted the challenge. The "Ultimate Deletion" match aired on the March 19 episode where Hardy defeated Wyatt by pinfall, then Wyatt disappeared after being thrown into the "Lake of Reincarnation". Titus Worldwide (Apollo and Titus O'Neil) had a rematch against Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match where Cesaro and Sheamus again retained. The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) then had a non-title match with the champions where had they won, they would have received a championship match at WrestleMania 34, but the champions were victorious. Braun Strowman, who settled his differences with Elias, then won a tag team battle royal by himself to determine Cesaro and Sheamus' challengers at WrestleMania. Angle declared that Strowman had to find a partner, and Strowman said he would. Despite being the third competitor on the receiving end of a pinfall loss to Braun Strowman in the Elimination Chamber match, John Cena still wanted a match at WrestleMania 34 and challenged The Undertaker. However, he revealed that he was told that the match was impossible. He then said that he would use his free agent status to go to SmackDown Live the following night to earn a match at WrestleMania. On SmackDown, Cena was given the opportunity to be added to the WWE Championship match at SmackDown's pay-per-view Fastlane if he could defeat WWE Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match. Cena defeated Styles, making the WWE Championship match at Fastlane a Six-Pack Challenge(the other participants were Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, and Sami Zayn). Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Elimination Chamber Category:Elimination Chamber PPV Category:Pay-Per-Views